


Orioles Apart

by bluetoast



Series: Birds of a Feather [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Child Abuse, Deaf Character, Deaf Dean Winchester, F/M, Gen, John Winchester's Bad Parenting, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-16
Updated: 2014-03-16
Packaged: 2018-01-16 00:36:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1325164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluetoast/pseuds/bluetoast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>January 1982 - Severe winter weather sends Michael Coulter home from work early. While caught in traffic, he witnesses something he will never forget. A thousand miles away, Dean Winchester, almost three, was playing with his cars and watching the Price Is Right - one minute it's there, the next minute, there's show with people in a river and it's snowing - just like it is in Kansas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Orioles Apart

**Author's Note:**

> The crash mentioned in this story is [Florida Flight 90](http://youtu.be/PMcPUScgqrU), which crashed into the Potomac River on January 13, 1982. Six people survived the crash, but only five were rescued from the river.

Michael Coulter rubbed his temple and wondered how many people were shouting profanities behind him. They were all stuck in the same traffic jam, all stuck in this deplorable winter weather and cursing and leaning on their horns did nothing to alleviate the situation. He edged his car forward another couple of feet, feeling relieved when the bridges over the Potomac River finally came into view, a couple dozen yards away. Elisa had told him he was crazy to drive into work today, given the weather and that taking the Metro would be much more practical. 

Michael didn't trust whatever they used to plow Metro tracks. 

At least once he got out of Washington and into Maryland, the roads should be cleared a little better, thanks to the number of people who had snowplows attached to the front of their trucks. 

Of course, the other factor for all this traffic was that the city was shutting down, sending all the employees home – and what was already a bad commute had just doubled in its severity. He had thought about waiting longer to give more people time to get home and make the roads less packed, but the snow kept getting worse. 

So here he was. 

The car lurched forward another eight feet. 

He leaned back in his seat, smiling at the idea that at home, there was going to be a dinner of steaming hot taco soup. Elisa probably had a pot of coffee ready too. Classes had been canceled before it even started snowing this morning and she'd sent him off to work while still wearing her pajamas and a very self-satisfied smirk.

He watched the lane next to his move forward several feet and then it was his lane's turn – a mere four feet this time. 

An odd sound suddenly echoed faintly in his ears – and he adjusted his hearing aides, trying to place the noise. It wasn't wind – it sounded.... he knew that sound.

It was a plane.

“How far away is National?” He thought for a moment. “That's not right...” 

The sound grew louder, and louder and then, perhaps two hundred feet in front of him something massive came in contact with the bridge – a streak of blue, green and then – the car shook as the plane went into the river. 

“What the fuck!” Michael shouted and then horns fell silent. He threw on the car's hazard lights as dozens of other cars around him did the same. “This is not good... not good...” 

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. One minute he was sitting in his car, the next he was with a group of people standing on the bank of the river, looking out at the wreckage. A handful of people were clinging to the debris, and for Michael, it seemed wrong – there should be more than that. Where were the rest of the passengers? 

“What kind of plane was it?” Someone standing next to Michael said. “Do you know?”

“It looked like a seven-three-seven.” Michael replied, swallowing hard. His job at the NTSB suddenly kicked into gear, and he found himself thinking what could have caused this – whatever it was, he had a feeling this wretched weather played a part. 

“What a fucking mess.” The man said, shaking his head. 

*  
Hundreds of miles away, an almost three year old boy looked up from his cars, sensing the picture on the television had changed. He frowned – this wasn't The Price is Right. 

Dean Winchester frowned, pulling on his bottom lip. He thought about going to get his mommy from the kitchen, to tell her something was wrong with the TV, but thought better of it as he smelled something cooking. He set his car aside, trying to figure out what exactly this was.

Some people were out in a river, somewhere – and it was snowing there, just like it was snowing here. They were holding onto something – but he couldn't tell what it was. 

Then a helicopter showed up – and they dropped something and then one of the people were carried out of the river. 

It was all very confusing and while he'd rather be watching The Price is Right (it was neat to watch people win cars) this was kind of neat too, whatever it was. 

The helicopter pulled a lady in a skirt out of the river. She looked really cold. 

Dean reached over and grabbed his teddy bear, hugging it as he watched the people in the helicopter try and help more people. His eyes widened when a lady became stuck on some ice. A sense of fear swept through him – these people were in danger – and they needed help. He was about to run for his mommy, she could save anyone, when there was a splash and he saw a man swim into the river to get the lady who was stuck.

As soon as the man had her back to the side of the river, Dean clapped. Daddy told him that's what you always do when someone does something really good. Either that, or wave your hands over your head. So he compromised and clapped his hands over his head. 

Then the helicopter people got another lady out of the water.

He was still clapping when his mommy came into the room. She looked from him to the TV and then went white. Dean stood up, suddenly scared. What was wrong? The people were out of the river now, they were safe. His mother suddenly seized him in a tight hug, turning his face away from the TV. This was all so confusing. He found himself being rocked in her lap, and now he was even more confused. What in the world had happened to upset Mommy?

He hugged his bear tighter and hoped that Daddy would be home soon. 

*  
Michael finally got home four hours later. He barely had his coat off before Elisa was hugging him tightly. She'd been crying. He smoothed down her hair, kissing the top of her head. He was just so glad to be back here. He struggled out of his boots and the two of them went to sit on the couch. He held his wife close to him, knowing that she was crying again. He brushed her cheek with his thumb and glared at the TV, the news was showing that there had been a derailment on the Metro. 

He let out a breath, turned off his hearing aides and then closed his eyes. 

Silence, at times, was a blessing.


End file.
